The Chief of Staff after the withdrawal Khan Younes: "The war is far from over" / IDF Spokesman
The IDF announced yesterday (Sunday) around noon that after four months of fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, the withdrawal of the 98th Division from the Khan Yunis area was completed. The army explained that the tree maneuver in the southern Gaza Strip had exhausted itself - and the decision makers chose to switch to a more focused method of fighting - which would be based on raids From the outside, based on intelligence, which will exert pressure and create deterrence. The blood price paid by the IDF in Khan Yunis is enormous. Only yesterday, in the early hours of the morning, it was learned about the fall of an officer and three fighters in an ambush by terrorists in the refugee camp.
However, less than half an hour had passed since the announcement, and alarms about rockets and missiles being fired were heard in Amimaim, Amiauz, Yesha Tzohar, Ohad, Sde Nitzan and Tolemy Eliyahu in the Eshkol Regional Council. A short time later it became known that a fall had been detected in one of the settlements in Gush Mivathim. The rest of the rockets were successfully intercepted by the "Iron Dome" system. This reality, in which the IDF leaves areas that were supposedly cleansed of terrorists and are filled again with Hamas members, has become a pattern that proves, contrary to the army's resolute statements - this is not a victory, and certainly not a complete victory.
IDF activity in Khan Yunis/IDF spokesman
In the previous months we were informed that the IDF dismantled the capabilities of Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip. Already in February, a considerable time after the first operation in the Shifa Hospital, the Chief of Staff announced the return of the IDF to the north. "There are areas we have already been to, and we are returning with intelligence better and make an achievement that is much higher and much deeper, literally, even into the ground, even in hitting the enemy," Halevy said on February 24, "There are places we passed through at a very high rate of combat, and we are returning to places to purify space at a very, very high level high These things bring another level of operatives, another level of commanders, more destruction of infrastructure."
At the same time, it was reported that Hamas reorganized its people and began paying partial salaries to civil service employees on its behalf in the areas of Gaza from which the IDF withdrew. Eyewitnesses reported that the activity of Hamas personnel was now concentrated around government offices and the Shifa Hospital. "The return of the police marks an attempt to restore order in the destroyed city after the Israeli forces withdrew from northern Gaza last month," a Hamas official said at the time. It is almost needless to say that the shooting at Israel has not stopped.
The operation that began in March at the Shifa hospital only proves how deceptive the message is that the IDF's progress is linear, towards victory. The second operation, at the hospital that had already been occupied once, was supposed to last two days, and extended to two weeks. It included the killing of about 500 Hamas members, including senior members of the organization, and the arrest of 921 people. Dozens were killed in the first 12 hours of the operation.
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The second operation at Shifa Hospital/IDF spokesman
Most of the fighting has been taking place in recent months in the center and south of the Strip. The next step, so say both the military and the political level, is entering Rafah, with all the complexity of the need to prevent harm to those not involved. Netanyahu stated yesterday: "The absolute majority of the people are united in the need to continue fighting until victory. We will cripple our enemies, we will eliminate Hamas, we will free our hostages, and with God's help we will bring about the complete victory." In view of the continued shooting into the southern settlements, and the return of Hamas to the areas from which the IDF withdrew, it is not clear what kind of victory this is.
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